Love in a Small Town (Pine Harbour Book 1) (7 page)

“That’s a given.” She shrugged. “I’ll manage. Maybe I’ll decorate this place while you’re gone. When do you leave?”

“Not until June.”

“Then let’s make the most of the spring together, yes?”

Yes. The tightness in his chest eased. It was going to be okay.

— SIX —

Present day

T
HE thought of going to a bush party would have made Olivia’s heart ache a few weeks earlier. She’d loved them when she first came north. That first summer, while Rafe was in Dubai, his siblings and friends made sure she was invited to everything. Bonfires, beach parties, barbecues…even though she’d missed him like crazy, that summer had a lovely side effect of Olivia finding her new Pine Harbour self. Sort of. Enough of an identity that she didn’t turn tail and run while he was gone. It had taken another five years for her to find something professional to get excited about. 

She refused to think it was sad that her excitement was so high over a six month, part-time gig where she basically waited for a phone call to go take a picture of something. It was still more fascinating than anything she’d done in her life to date. And worthy of celebrating. So when Lynn Howard texted and invited her to a bonfire at Scott Turner’s farm on Saturday evening, it didn’t take long for her to accept.

For the first time in two years she didn’t feel like she was just barely hanging on—to her independence, a livelihood, or her sense of self. She was going to celebrate. That Rafe might be there, and she knew it would be okay if he was…that was the icing on the cupcake. It might even be nice now that they’d had a bit more closure. Sure, his visit had been bittersweet and kissing him had probably been a mistake, but she hadn’t woken up in a tizzy over it all week. She’d been too busy. This would be a good test. Now that she had a second job, one that she was super excited about, maybe Rafe wouldn’t have the same effect on her. 

Wishful thinking.

As soon as she hopped out of the Howards’ truck she saw him across the clearing. He was hauling sandbags out of his own truck and stacking them next to a big water barrel.

He waved and she returned the gesture, butterflies rioting in her belly. She needed back-up. Her sister-in-law answered on the first ring. “Dani, you need to come to Scott Turner’s bonfire tonight.”

A groan warned her this conversation wasn’t going to go well, as did the protest that followed. “No. No, no, no, no, no.”

“Jake isn’t here.” Olivia looked around, hoping that was true. She was the only person in Pine Harbour that knew about Dani’s secret crush—she’d found out after the divorce, but even if she was still with Rafe, she’d have kept that news private. Nothing good could come of the Minelli brothers finding out their sister wanted their best friend.

“Why are
you
there?” Dani asked, dodging the rarely discussed but ever-present reality that she avoided any event where she might see Jake Foster tangled up with a woman. Olivia understood exactly how Dani felt, and suddenly felt foolish for thinking she could brass out a get together with Rafe. Seeing him at the diner was one thing—she was working, he was eating, and most importantly, that was before they kissed. And tangled in the woods. Cuddled on her couch. She groaned at the raft of fresh memories of his warm Adonis body wrapped around her. Dani correctly interpreted the groan as being related to her big brother. “Walk out to the road and I’ll pick you up.”

“No, I want to stay.” Olivia tracked Rafe as he finished unloading the truck. He hopped into the cab and pulled it away from the bonfire area, parking it a safe distance back. He dropped the tailgate, spread out a blanket on it, and headed in her direction. Yep, she definitely wanted to stay. Crap.

“Don’t do anything with my brother.”

“I won’t.” He walked leisurely, giving her plenty of time to start moving in another direction. She stayed where she was.

“You will. You still love him and he’s an idiot who will never be good enough for you.”

“I won’t, I don’t, he’s not, and that’s not what this is about.”

“What is this about? We live in a small town, honey. Everyone will know what you guys do tonight.”

“We’re not going to do anything.” Rafe stopped in front of her, a wicked grin slicking across his face as he caught her last words.
Dani?
he mouthed. She wouldn’t talk about him with anyone else. She nodded and licked her lips. “He’s my friend.”

He gave her a decidedly heated look that peeled away at the statement, revealing it as mostly a lie. They were friendly, for exes, but at the first whiff of him moving on she’d lost her mind. They weren’t friends. Not really.

“Maybe you two should just fuck and get it out of your systems. Lord knows you aren’t getting it anywhere else.”

“You’re one to talk, D.” Olivia was just dragging the conversation out now, but she was enjoying making Rafe stand there and wait for her. It was a harmless game that she’d never indulged in when they were together, but she liked feeling his eyes on her.

“Oh look at the time, I have to go wash my hair.”

“Come on, don’t leave me—”

“I’ll pick you up if you want to head out, but I’m not traipsing around in the woods like a teenager.” Jeez, Dani had such an old soul for a twenty-five year old. She’d chosen the wrong career—she would have made an excellent schoolmarm. 

“No, I’m good. False alarm.” She hung up over the protests of her former sister-in-law and her pounding heart. Two steps forward, one step back. Nope, that would mean some progress. One step forward, two giant flirting steps back into the arms of her sexy ex-husband. Today those arms were wrapped in a white cotton long-sleeve t-shirt and a red flannel over shirt. She just might combust from the hotness. “Hey.”

“I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight.” The sun was setting, but he was close. Really close. And his eyes were bright and interested. “This is a nice surprise.”

“I didn’t know you were going to be here.” Strictly speaking, that was true. Knowledge and hope weren’t the same thing.

“How’ve you been?” The past week had been the longest they’d gone without seeing each other since his tour of service in the Middle East.

“Well…” She shoved her hands in her pockets to keep from reaching for his forearm and squeezing. “I’ve got some news. Good news,” she hastened to add as the happy look dropped off his face. “I have a new job, one that will keep me around for the next six months.”

Her heart twisted at the eager enthusiasm on his face. Telling him was a mistake. Loving him was a mistake. Every conversation they had proved it was an impossible task, truly leaving Rafe Minelli. Too bad staying with him had been impossible too.

“What kind of job?”

“It’s a long story…” She let him guide her over to his truck as their host lit up the carefully assembled giant pyre in the middle of the cleared field. A few coolers of beer were set up at the edge of the circle and he grabbed a bottle on the way past and lifted another in offer for her. She shook her head. She’d have a drink in a bit, but she didn’t need alcohol right now. She needed calm, cool, friendly distance.

They wandered over to his truck and sat on the blanket spread out on the tailgate. She told him about the job, and he asked a bunch of questions, all of which she could answer. “You aren’t curious about what the movie is called?”

He laughed. “Can you tell me?”

“Nope, I don’t know myself.” She sighed. “You’re good at not being nosy.”

“I’m curious. Really. I want to know everything you can tell me. But I get that there are some things you just can’t share, and that’s okay.”

It was a part of his job she’d always struggled with, that confidentiality. “So I guess I shouldn’t ask how work is going for you?”

“You can ask.” He gave her a look she couldn’t decipher in the half-light surrounding them. “I just can’t tell you much.”

“Crime still alive and well in Bruce County?”

“As ever.” 

They continued talking, exchanging platitudes, but the flirting tone set with her call to Dani had slipped away while they talked about work. That was for the best, she told herself. 

“I’m proud of you, Liv. Maybe this will turn into something you can do again.”

“Yeah, maybe. Let’s see if I still like it in the spring.”

He cleared his throat and looked at the ground. “You’re still thinking about leaving then?”

She nodded. “This doesn’t change anything. I want a fresh start.” Beside her, he was frozen, like a wall of granite, and she forged ahead.
Rip off the bandage
. “It gives us more time to settle everything with the house, but it doesn’t change—”

“Don’t sell the house.”

“I need my half of the equity in it when I move.”

“I’ll buy you out.” He stared straight ahead, his jaw set.

“Why would you want to do that?”

“I miss having a yard.” That was a total lie, and a trickle of fear rolled down her spine. No good could come of Rafe wanting to hang on to a part of her.

“It would be better for both of us if we had a clean break,” she whispered.

“Don’t tell me what’s better for me,” he muttered. “You lost that right with the divorce decree.”

“I never had that right when we were married.” God, she hated that whiny edge to her voice. “Now I can say whatever I want. Up to you if you hear it or not.”

Rafe obviously decided to be a diplomat and changed the subject. “There are a lot of good memories in that place.”

Sure, when he’d been there, they’d been happy. It had been when he was away—long shifts, weekend exercises with the Army, the constant tug from his family—that sadness had flowed through the rooms. Longing for her husband that was never fully satisfied when he was home. 

“I’m not moving for a while yet. Let’s revisit this conversation in a few months.” She reached for the beer bottle and their fingers brushed. A shiver danced up her arm at the rough slide of skin on skin, igniting way too much desire. A simple, accidental touch and she was squirming in her seat. Right after talking about moving on. 

“You cold?”

She gave him a pointed look through narrowed eyelids. “Don’t you dare offer me your shirt.”

He gave her an innocent
who me
look and she laughed. “What? You look cold!”

“Here’s how that plays out,” she said, tipping the last of the bottle back. She licked her lips, enjoying the last drops of his beer, then pointed her finger firmly in his direction. “You wrap it around me, taking the opportunity to be all close and big and strong. Show off your muscles. Then I’m actually
surrounded
by your yummy smell, and now you’re cold, so you stay close. Put an arm around me. All in the name of warmth, of course. And then all of a sudden, your hand is on my ass, your tongue is down my throat, and everyone is talking about Rafe and Olivia making out in the back of a truck at a bonfire.”

He stared at her for a minute, then bit his lower lip and nodded. “Right. K. Well, I’m gonna grab another beer.”

He hopped off the tailgate and unbuttoned his shirt. She gasped as he tossed it into her lap before he ambled over to the cooler. 

Between the moon overhead and the orange glow of the bonfire, it was almost like he had a spotlight on him. And from her perch on the back of his truck she felt like she could watch him safely from the darkness. Without anyone else noticing her hunger for his broad shoulders and long legs. His strong arms and tight butt. Even with the warm flannel that she greedily wrapped around her body—and it did in fact smell yummy—he still sent shivers down her spine. From thirty feet away. The man was dangerous.

He stopped to talk to a couple people on the way back, then handed her the beer before continuing to the cab of the truck. He returned wearing an OPP sweatshirt and she was absurdly disappointed that he’d gone and covered up most of the muscles she’d just complained he might show off to her.

He hopped back up next her, leaving a solid six inches between their thighs, and smirked as she stared at the blanket between them. “Miss me?”

Like you wouldn’t believe
. “Nope.”

“Can I have a sip?” He nodded to the beer, and it dawned on her that he’d only brought one bottle back from the cooler. The first one had been shared…well, sort of by accident. But he could have brought two back and he didn’t.

The hoodie, the space…that was for her. The public show of Rafe and Olivia just being friends. But the single bottle of beer, passed back and forth? That was something else. She twisted the cap off and drank first, then quietly handed it over. He kept his eyes locked on hers as he tipped the bottle back, his lips where hers had just been.

When he handed it back again, she reached across her body and took it with her right hand. Leaving her left hand pressed on the itchy blanket between their bodies. He slid the bottle into her grasp, then dropped his hand on top of hers.

They sat there for another hour, sharing that bottle and then another as many revellers took their leave. Rafe didn’t drink much of the last one, just holding it on his turns. 

“Are you driving?” she finally asked.

“Hmmm?” He’d been staring at the fire for a few minutes. He slid her a curious look.

“You’ve stopped drinking.”

“Oh. No, Dean drove my truck. I’ve got the second row of seats, so we can take more people back.”

Leave it to cops to have a responsible bush bash. 

“Can we give you a ride home?”

“I came with Ryan and Lynn, but…”

“Who’s driving?”

“Lynn, I think.”

His jaw clenched. “You’ll come home with us, okay?”

“Rafe?”

He rubbed his thumb over her knuckle and stretched his neck left and right before answering. “She disappeared into the woods for a bit. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had a joint on her.”

Olivia sighed. Her friend should know better than to bring drugs to a party at Scott Turner’s farm. Or anywhere in public, but especially around cops. Jeez. And driving… “Yeah, I’d love a ride home. Thanks.” She pressed her lips together, not sure how to ask the next question.